Antique lure questions

[pdt818]

I went over to my parents house this last weekend and my dad handed me a box of lures. Apparently the guy down the street from him knows that I love fishing and wanted me to have some of his old lures. I opened the box when I got home and the first lure I saw said "Bingo" on the side and the only thing that ran through my mind was JACKPOT! All of the lures do not have their boxes and it looks like he was in the process of taking out the hardware to clean it up and then put it all back together. I have all of the components in a perscription pill bottle inside the box with the lures. Some of the lures say are Bingo lures and some are old MirroLure plugs, but some say "Hump" on the side and the word is always followed by a letter/number combination. I have never heard of this lure. Also some of the lures say nothing on them but seem to have the same build as the others. I am hoping some of you can help tell me what I have here. I know Vincent collects lures so hopefully he chimes in with some info.

All of the baits minus the MirroLures


Several close ups of others












I am going to but all of the hardware back in the lures later once I figure out what I have on hand. Any help yall can provide would be great. Thanks!

-Jerron

[Sam]

Awesome set of Bingos.....you scored Big Time.
Vincent can give you more info on these, He has a pretty good sized collection mounted in shadow boxes. But from my understanding, the 'hump' lures are older generation Bingos, and worth a little bit more.

[vincent]

That's what you have...bingos, humps, Mirrolures.....Bingos and Humps were manufactured in the coastal bend area of Texas...Bingo in Corpus Hump in El Campo...value wise they tend to run from 8.00 - ??? depending on how rare or how bad someone wants it for their collection....although the highest price I've seen paid was for a tiger striped hump at about 115.00....the bingos with the swirl pattern were a topwater version that was in production for a couple years and probably worth more if I remember right...the finned lures are pluggin shorties...one of my favs is that pearl colord hump with the big black eyes.....droooooool........the pink/silver is a killer also...nice score...

[vincent]

the Hump looking lures with the tall tail fins are interesting...not sure I've ever seen those...might want to investigate those.

[pdt818]

So all of the lures that are unmarked are Bingo's as well? Wow! I was under the assumption that some were different than the Bingo's or Hump lures because of the hardware used for the hook connection points and tie point. Which ones are the swirled ones? I am not too sure myself. I only until recently collected freshwater antiques and I have mountains of those, some in their original boxes

[pdt818]

the Hump looking lures with the tall tail fins are interesting...not sure I've ever seen those...might want to investigate those.

Is there a website that shows antique lures or a forum for that sort of thing? I am curious about these as well since they seem to be constructed very differently. I have noticed that all of the Bingo's and Hump lures have a thin gauge wire for your tie point and hook connection point but these lures and the larger ones shown in the 3rd picture have a thicker gauge wire.

Here is another question. Why on the Bingo's and Hump lures are there 2 loops of wire on top of the head of the lure? 2 different tie points for different actions?

[lurejunkee]

impresive, i think I'll have something like that in about 50 years with everything I have. I have stuff that I haven't even thought of using yet.... hence the username...

[pdt818]

impresive, i think I'll have something like that in about 50 years with everything I have. I have stuff that I haven't even thought of using yet.... hence the username...

I am the same way. I usually buy extra of whatever I am getting and save one for the collection. I could probably fill a small shed with what I have.

[Brizzonator]

I read Texas Saltwater magazine pretty regularly, and one of the columnists there, Martin Strarup is suppsed to be an antique lure collector and expert.
His email addy is trouthunter@swbell.com
Sounds like you hit a nice score, congrats.

[pdt818]

Thanks for the email link! I just sent him a message with the pictures attached. I will post up his response once I get it.

[vincent]

After looking back at them I don't see any mirrolures...mainly bingos and humps.
The multiple connection point wire allows you to run the bait shallow (front) or deep(back).
If I had to guess it would be



?? ?? hump bingo bingo
?? bingo bingo hump ??
bingo bingo bingo bingo bingo
bingo bingo bingo ?? bingo
Bingo Bingo bingo bingo bingo hump
hump hump hump hump hump hump
hump hump hump hump hump ??
?? ?? ?? bingo ?? ??
hump

[pdt818]

Thanks Vincent. I had taken the MirroLures out of the lineup because I knew what they were. Nothing spectacular. The bottom row second lure when looking left to right is a hump lure. It has a flat nose on it. Not broken either. It says "Hump A19" on the side. What exactly does the A19 stand for? Is it just a model number like for example a Mirrolure 52MCF?

[Fin-Addict]

I'd take them up to the show with you and talk to this guy

Lure and tackle collector Leonard Tucker will be at the show to offer free appraisals on whatever can be pilfered from a grandfather's tackle
box. Tucker is one of the South's most respected collectors and will provide a fair and honest estimate of value on whatever is presented.


I see some more toys for you in the near future - congrats on the present

[lurejunkee]

impresive, i think I'll have something like that in about 50 years with everything I have. I have stuff that I haven't even thought of using yet.... hence the username...

I am the same way. I usually buy extra of whatever I am getting and save one for the collection. I could probably fill a small shed with what I have.

lol, yea I'm getting there, money permitting.

[vincent]

Yeah A19 is the model number...I thought it might be this one but wasn't sure that's why I put ??

[pdt818]

Some of the ones that you had put question marks for I have not been able to find anything on the internet about. I am going to go to that guy that Fin-addict said will be at the show. Hopefully he can shed some light on the topic for me.

[Lagoonfisher]

Wow.....you scored good! Nice set of bingo's you got there. I knew little about them about a year ago, but have been diligintly studying and researching them for the past couple of months. Other than ebay your chances of finding a set like that are slim to nil. Let me shoot an email to the current Bingo owner and see what he says about the "??" ones...I will let you know.

[Pablo]

There's a bingo collector at my office. He's the kind of collector that recently, I guess in the last month, went to a Hotel Bingo gathering. I'll show him your collection and get his two cents.

But based on Vincent's input, looks like the value would be $320.00! I'll use my calculator next time

WOW!

Nice!

[larry long shadows]

I'll give you 50 bucks now pm me if you want that's my last offer or I'm calling the guy down the street from your dad that thinks your going to fish with them

[Do It]

"JACKPOT"

[pdt818]

I posted this over at 2coolfishing also and got an overwhelming amount of private messages. Seems they all want to buy them. I even had 1 guy offer me $200 per lure for just 2 of them so apparently I have some rare ones.

Vincent,
One of the gentlemen on the other site said that the ones you had put ? for are Hogies and some are called Sportsmans. The hogies are the ones with the tall tail fins and are similar to the Humps. They said the Hogies are very rare as well. I am going to do some more research into all of them. They also said that the Bingos with the lead exposed at the bottom of the lure are the old ones that were made in Corpus while the ones without were made in Houston. Also some of my Humps are "flash" Humps and are pretty valuable as well. This stuff is very interesting. Looks like after the fishing show I have a lot of reading to do

[habanerojooz]

I was at the fishing show tonight and saw the guy who collects antique stuff. I was talking to him about my stash of circa '70's ambassadeur reels. I noticed that he had a set of bingos in a shadow box frame on display.

I'm willing to bet that the man who gave them to you knows what they're worth but he gave them to you because he knew that you'd appreciate them. No old salt who had that kind of collection of bingos and humps would just give them away and not know what they're worth. That is a special collection you have there. I bet that man has many memories and stories he could tell you about some of those lures.

If it were me, I'd think of something special I could do to return the favor and show my appreciation. I'd also promise him that I wouldn't sell them. But that's just me.

[Brizzonator]

I'd keep them too, looks like a great start on a new hobby, that's worth more than some cash, unless you really are drooling over a new 'yak, of course.
"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."